Housetraining success varies among dogs. It can take as little as a few weeks for some dogs to understand your requirements or it can seem like a problem that has no solution for others. Not so surprisingly, the cause of most elimination problems is the owner. Failing to recognize important signs and create a schedule are two key mishaps owners make. Here's how to correct dog behavior problems related to elimination.

1. Help your dog ask to go outside. Quite often, dogs want to be excused, but due to the lack of training, don't know how to communicate this with their owners. Through the use of a simple bell, you can help create a trigger a response within both you and your dog. Hang a small bell on the door that you use to let the dog out. When you let the dog out to relieve itself, always ring the bell. This will help associate access to the yard (and elimination) with the sound of a bell. When you're not letting the dog out yourself, but hear the bell ring, the dog is at the door waiting to go outside.

2. Introduce a frequent pee-er outside. Some dogs (especially puppies) greet new people by crouching and then peeing. In dog world, this gesture communicates submission to a higher ranking creature, and high ranking dogs accept the gesture graciously. This is a problem however when the dog encounters people. If your dog does this, take him outside when company arrives and then bring your guests outside to meet the dog. Ask your guests to refrain from leaning over and petting the puppy until it calms down. A towering position initiates submissive (peeing) behavior from the dog, so ask your guests to instead, squat down to interact with the puppy.

3. Indicate the appropriate places to mark. Dominant dogs will mark everything indoors or outdoors. And intact males will mark more often than neutered males. Since marking is achieved through peeing, you'll need to restrict this behavior to the outside area. If you don't, your table, chair, and sofa legs including door frames become your dog's favorite marking spots twice a day if not more. The only way to remove the odor left behind is to clean marked areas with a formula especially designed to remove the smell of marking. And if you're not careful to restrict access to a previously marked area of the home, the dog will continue to mark the same spot over and over again.

You can of course make reduce these dog behavior problems by giving the dog access to the yard several times a day. The only problem you'll have with outdoor marking is when the dog marks items that should be left alone, such as the pool, lawn furniture, and children's toys. To stop this behavior, wipe a bit of the dog's urine onto places that mark-appropriate, and then remove the urine from objects that should remain urine-free. With a leash, take your dog to the areas that you've wiped. The dog should want to re-mark the odor on those spots since the scent will be rather weak. If you like, you can reward the dog with a treat just to emphasize the activity. If you repeat the process over the course of a few days, the dog will eventually mark your approved areas all on its own.